The Romance Plan - Lila Monroe Page 0,35

much. “Sorry, I—” She breaks off. “What did you say your name was again?”

“I didn’t,” I admit, sticking a hand out. “I’m Liam Sterling.”

“Oh, crapwaffle.” Maddie grimaces, clapping a hand over her face. “Look, please don’t tell her I told you where she was, okay? I know she’s determined to handle this whole thing on her own.”

“What whole thing, exactly?” I ask, my suspicions rising.

Maddie shakes her head. “I’ve gotta go; I’m late for, um… a bikini wax. Yeah. Okay, bye!”

She all but sprints away, but I stand where I am for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. If there was some kind of crisis with Verity—especially one that needed to be handled in person—why wouldn’t Eliza have told me about it so I could help?

Possibly because you’ve spent the last two weeks telling her that her job depends on everything going 100% smoothly, an annoying voice in my head reminds me.

Ugh. I feel like a complete and utter ass.

I have to sort this out, and quickly. Because I’m betting the bank on this new Verity book, and any delay is unacceptable.

And anything that keeps Eliza out of town isn’t great, either.

I hop back into my car and make the drive out to Long Island. I ring the bell but there’s no answer, so I wander around back to the pool deck, where sure enough I find Eliza, who by all appearances is in perfect health. She’s stretched out on a lounge chair, pecking industriously away at a laptop.

Wearing a string bikini.

And nothing else.

I can’t help but stare at her for a moment, her long tan legs and the flat planes of her stomach, round breasts encased by a pair of spandex triangles that leave very little to the imagination. Just for a second I imagine untying the knot at the back of her neck, ducking my head to her nipple, and—

“What the hell are you doing here?’ she yelps, seeing me standing there for the first time.

I clear my throat, trying to ignore the sensation of all the blood in my body rushing southwards. “I could ask you the same thing,” I manage, trying to sound stern. “Especially since I’m not the one who’s been lying to my employer all week about being too sick to come to work.”

Eliza’s eyes narrow. “I am working,” she says defiantly. “And I can explain.”

“How, exactly?” I raise my eyebrows.

Eliza sighs. “Look,” she says, lowering her voice and motioning for me to come closer. “Verity sent me the finished manuscript for Rock Hard earlier this week.”

“She did?” Right away I feel myself brighten. “We’re still way ahead of the new deadline. That’s great news!” But Eliza isn’t smiling. I pause. “Isn’t it?”

“Not exactly,” she says, and I can tell from her tone that she’s trying to soften the blow. “We’ve got… a ways to go with rewrites before the book is ready for the world, I think. Or before the world is ready for the book.”

“I see.” I try to keep my voice steady. “So how much of the book is done, exactly?”

“Conservatively?” she asks. Eliza winces. “None of it.”

“Are you kidding me?” I exclaim, my voice rising.

“I wish I was,” she says, then lays it out for me bluntly: The book is a train wreck. Excruciating. Utterly unpublishable. “I’ve been here for days trying to get things back on track,” she finishes. “But Verity is… temperamental.”

“You can’t be serious,” I protest. “I mean, according to you, this woman is a legend. Everything she writes turns to gold.”

“And I stand by that assessment!” Eliza insists. “She’s going through a creative dry spell, that’s all.” She sighs. “Look, I know you wanted this turned around ASAP. But I think if we can just give her until the fall—”

“The fall?” I gape at her. “There’s no way.”

Eliza sets her jaw. “You don’t understand how publishing works, okay? This schedule of yours is completely insane—”

“This schedule of mine is hardly the only chance she’s had to put words on the page,” I counter. “She’s had years!”

“I know that!” Eliza argues. “But she’s still not done! So, at this point, what’s another couple of months?”

“We don’t have another couple of months!” I explode. “How am I the only one who can get that through his head? Sterling is going to fold by the end of summer if I don’t turn this around. We need a smash hit by yesterday or there won’t be a company to publish anything come fall.”

Now